Interview: Peter Salmon, BBC Sports chief (Evening Standard)
By David Rowan
BBC sports chief Peter Salmon is gambling a fortune on Euro 2004 and the Olympics. And the stakes could not be higher FORGET the on-pitch clashes: the real action in Euro 2004 will be the battle for your remote control. When Portugal and Greece meet in Porto on Saturday, the BBC and ITV will go head-to-head in a ratings war costing each side tens of millions of pounds in rights. Yet while ITV hopes to recoup its investment in lucrative advertising revenue, for the BBC there is far more at stake.
According to Peter Salmon, its head of sport, a good result for the corporation could secure charter renewal.
The BBC's intensive "Summer of Sport", which the tournament kicks off in earnest, is the culmination of years of intensive negotiations for key broadcast rights. It is, says Salmon, an "enormous, if fairly frightening" commitment, taking in not only Euro 2004 and the Olympics but showcase events such as Wimbledon and the golf Open.
But even though he admits this will be "a very expensive year" for the sports division - claiming almost a tenth of the £3 billion licence-fee income for rights and production costs - Salmon insists that such spending lies at the heart of the corporation's public-service obligations.
"I think sport does win charter renewal," he explains at an outside table near his office at Television Centre. A few years ago, when the BBC lost the rights to events such as Formula 1 and Premier League highlights, research showed that approval for the BBC and its charter plummeted, he points out.
"Internally, we felt that losing sport, with men in particular beginning to drift to Sky, was one reason why the public had fallen out of love with the BBC. But recently a huge Ofcom survey said that sport is now second to news in what people want from public-service broadcasters.
That is what is so pivotal about this summer of sport - it falls just before the BBC goes into battle to make the case for its charter, and hopefully we can prove the case for the licence fee." BUT what of the rights Salmon himself has allowed to fall - not to mention his star presenter, Des Lynam, now with ITV? He may have regained the Derby, Premier League highlights and rugby's Six Nations since he took over sport four years ago, but he was widely criticised in February for letting ITV grab the Boat Race after 50 years.
"It's disappointing," he admits now. "I'd have liked to think that the Boat Race would have consulted us more and that a 50-year relationship would have mattered. It taught me that loyalty in the sports world is probably dead." Sky, too, has forced up the price of sporting rights. But for all the extra costs, Salmon insists that the competition has been good for the licence-payer.
"Sky came in and gave us a kick up the arse, ITV nips in and out to grab things and pinch a bit of talent, and we all rub off against each other," he says. "The result is there are more cameras on football grounds now, more analysis tools.
We needed the wakeup call." His short-term priority now is beating ITV. Although both broadcasters jointly acquired the Euro 2004 rights, and agreed to divide up the matches, the behind-the-scenes horse trading suggests that old rivalries are far from resolved. ITV Sport, for instance, will show England's games against France and Sweden, which a spokesman suggests the BBC fought hard for; the BBC, meanwhile, claims to have the more "climactic" England vs Croatia match, and exclusive coverage of games in later rounds.
"It's been a chess game," Salmon admits. "The BBC's gamble is that England will get through at least to the quarterfinals, because we will have that quarter final live and exclusive. If they don't, then I'm sunk." Neither side doubts that the BBC, as is traditional, will pull in the higher ratings, boosted this year by internet streaming. But ITV claims to have the edge in the commentary box. According to a spokesman, it has assembled "probably the most experienced team ever", with three former England managers (Bobby Robson, Terry Venables and Graham Taylor), as well as Gareth Southgate, who would have been in the England squad had he been fit.
Salmon's response is that the commercials give ITV "a lot less time for editorial, which has probably not played to Des's strengths" - a barbed reference to Des Lynam's reported frustration at feeling underused by ITV where he has to share the limelight with Gabby Logan. He points out that Lynam's departure provided a "wonderful moment" for BBC talent such as Gary Lineker to shine.
SALMON is optimistic that Athens will be ready in time for the Olympics - "but it will be nervewracking" - and thinks that London is looking an increasingly strong contender to host the 2012 games. "I'd say it's 50:50 with Paris," he says. "We're catching up on the bend." The son of a Burnley mill worker and window cleaner, Salmon has not lost his northern accent. He studied at Warwick before becoming a government press officer - but rose quickly through the BBC after winning a graduate trainee place in 1981. He started on programmes such as Crimewatch, and with interludes at Granada and Channel 4, became controller of BBC One in 1997.
His career has not been marked by the best of press. As Channel 4's head of factual, he took some of the tabloid barbs aimed at his boss, "pornographer-in-chief" Michael Grade; there was also gleeful coverage four years ago when he left his long-term partner Penny and their three sons for the actress Sarah Lancashire (they married in 2001).
He was vilified at BBC One for everything from its ratings decline to his refusal to broadcast the Queen Mother's Birthday Pageant.
The headline writers have also paid more attention to his dropped goals at sport than his victories.
"You can't win," he says. "You live with that as part of being a public organisation. But I don't feel aggrieved by the coverage - some of which, don't forget, is by newspapers linked to rival broadcasting organisations." In fact, he believes he has regained respect for his department. "We've clawed our way back to being serious sports players, and now have the best sports rights portfolio in modern times. It will never be better than it is this year." So what next for him? He recently lost his mentor, Greg Dyke, who saw him as a "brilliant leader" best suited to becoming the next director-general. That, he replies, was "just a bit of mischief ... Greg's wicked sense of humour".
Nonetheless, won't his working relationship with Mark Thompson be strained - particularly as, when director of television, Thompson removed Salmon from BBC One? "I don't think so," he replies carefully.
"I've worked with Mark, he was my colleague when I was at One, and he was brilliant at helping sort out my move to sport. We got a terrific candidate." But what of the speculation that he is hoping for Thompson's old job at Channel 4? Salmon deflects the question. "Somebody said to me they'd heard I was running for Tim Lamb's job [at the England and Wales Cricket Board]. There are always rumours when there are vacancies, aren't there?" But is he interested? "It's not on my radar ...
Honestly, I'm just concentrating on this great summer." Not a denial, then.
"Look, this job is the most wonderful hobby I've ever had," he says. "It's just the most fun you can have if you're a man and have a passion for sport."
(Evening Standard, June 9 2004)
BBC sports chief Peter Salmon is gambling a fortune on Euro 2004 and the Olympics. And the stakes could not be higher FORGET the on-pitch clashes: the real action in Euro 2004 will be the battle for your remote control. When Portugal and Greece meet in Porto on Saturday, the BBC and ITV will go head-to-head in a ratings war costing each side tens of millions of pounds in rights. Yet while ITV hopes to recoup its investment in lucrative advertising revenue, for the BBC there is far more at stake.
According to Peter Salmon, its head of sport, a good result for the corporation could secure charter renewal.
The BBC's intensive "Summer of Sport", which the tournament kicks off in earnest, is the culmination of years of intensive negotiations for key broadcast rights. It is, says Salmon, an "enormous, if fairly frightening" commitment, taking in not only Euro 2004 and the Olympics but showcase events such as Wimbledon and the golf Open.
But even though he admits this will be "a very expensive year" for the sports division - claiming almost a tenth of the £3 billion licence-fee income for rights and production costs - Salmon insists that such spending lies at the heart of the corporation's public-service obligations.
"I think sport does win charter renewal," he explains at an outside table near his office at Television Centre. A few years ago, when the BBC lost the rights to events such as Formula 1 and Premier League highlights, research showed that approval for the BBC and its charter plummeted, he points out.
"Internally, we felt that losing sport, with men in particular beginning to drift to Sky, was one reason why the public had fallen out of love with the BBC. But recently a huge Ofcom survey said that sport is now second to news in what people want from public-service broadcasters.
That is what is so pivotal about this summer of sport - it falls just before the BBC goes into battle to make the case for its charter, and hopefully we can prove the case for the licence fee." BUT what of the rights Salmon himself has allowed to fall - not to mention his star presenter, Des Lynam, now with ITV? He may have regained the Derby, Premier League highlights and rugby's Six Nations since he took over sport four years ago, but he was widely criticised in February for letting ITV grab the Boat Race after 50 years.
"It's disappointing," he admits now. "I'd have liked to think that the Boat Race would have consulted us more and that a 50-year relationship would have mattered. It taught me that loyalty in the sports world is probably dead." Sky, too, has forced up the price of sporting rights. But for all the extra costs, Salmon insists that the competition has been good for the licence-payer.
"Sky came in and gave us a kick up the arse, ITV nips in and out to grab things and pinch a bit of talent, and we all rub off against each other," he says. "The result is there are more cameras on football grounds now, more analysis tools.
We needed the wakeup call." His short-term priority now is beating ITV. Although both broadcasters jointly acquired the Euro 2004 rights, and agreed to divide up the matches, the behind-the-scenes horse trading suggests that old rivalries are far from resolved. ITV Sport, for instance, will show England's games against France and Sweden, which a spokesman suggests the BBC fought hard for; the BBC, meanwhile, claims to have the more "climactic" England vs Croatia match, and exclusive coverage of games in later rounds.
"It's been a chess game," Salmon admits. "The BBC's gamble is that England will get through at least to the quarterfinals, because we will have that quarter final live and exclusive. If they don't, then I'm sunk." Neither side doubts that the BBC, as is traditional, will pull in the higher ratings, boosted this year by internet streaming. But ITV claims to have the edge in the commentary box. According to a spokesman, it has assembled "probably the most experienced team ever", with three former England managers (Bobby Robson, Terry Venables and Graham Taylor), as well as Gareth Southgate, who would have been in the England squad had he been fit.
Salmon's response is that the commercials give ITV "a lot less time for editorial, which has probably not played to Des's strengths" - a barbed reference to Des Lynam's reported frustration at feeling underused by ITV where he has to share the limelight with Gabby Logan. He points out that Lynam's departure provided a "wonderful moment" for BBC talent such as Gary Lineker to shine.
SALMON is optimistic that Athens will be ready in time for the Olympics - "but it will be nervewracking" - and thinks that London is looking an increasingly strong contender to host the 2012 games. "I'd say it's 50:50 with Paris," he says. "We're catching up on the bend." The son of a Burnley mill worker and window cleaner, Salmon has not lost his northern accent. He studied at Warwick before becoming a government press officer - but rose quickly through the BBC after winning a graduate trainee place in 1981. He started on programmes such as Crimewatch, and with interludes at Granada and Channel 4, became controller of BBC One in 1997.
His career has not been marked by the best of press. As Channel 4's head of factual, he took some of the tabloid barbs aimed at his boss, "pornographer-in-chief" Michael Grade; there was also gleeful coverage four years ago when he left his long-term partner Penny and their three sons for the actress Sarah Lancashire (they married in 2001).
He was vilified at BBC One for everything from its ratings decline to his refusal to broadcast the Queen Mother's Birthday Pageant.
The headline writers have also paid more attention to his dropped goals at sport than his victories.
"You can't win," he says. "You live with that as part of being a public organisation. But I don't feel aggrieved by the coverage - some of which, don't forget, is by newspapers linked to rival broadcasting organisations." In fact, he believes he has regained respect for his department. "We've clawed our way back to being serious sports players, and now have the best sports rights portfolio in modern times. It will never be better than it is this year." So what next for him? He recently lost his mentor, Greg Dyke, who saw him as a "brilliant leader" best suited to becoming the next director-general. That, he replies, was "just a bit of mischief ... Greg's wicked sense of humour".
Nonetheless, won't his working relationship with Mark Thompson be strained - particularly as, when director of television, Thompson removed Salmon from BBC One? "I don't think so," he replies carefully.
"I've worked with Mark, he was my colleague when I was at One, and he was brilliant at helping sort out my move to sport. We got a terrific candidate." But what of the speculation that he is hoping for Thompson's old job at Channel 4? Salmon deflects the question. "Somebody said to me they'd heard I was running for Tim Lamb's job [at the England and Wales Cricket Board]. There are always rumours when there are vacancies, aren't there?" But is he interested? "It's not on my radar ...
Honestly, I'm just concentrating on this great summer." Not a denial, then.
"Look, this job is the most wonderful hobby I've ever had," he says. "It's just the most fun you can have if you're a man and have a passion for sport."
(Evening Standard, June 9 2004)
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